How Christopher 'Dudus' Coke was extradited

KEN CHAPLIN

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

The first part of a blow-by-blow account of the extradition to the United States of former Tivoli Gardens strongman, Christopher "Dudus" Coke, was published last Tuesday. This is the second part.

In early January 2010, the solicitor general informed the chargé d'affaires of the US Embassy that further investigation had not revealed that there was authorisation for the transfer of the wiretap evidence to the US Government as there was no record of a modification of the court order. Further, that he had written to the commissioner of police and requested that he begin formal investigations into the matter.

On January 18, 2010, the solicitor general sent an e-mail to Ms Mary Ellen Warlow, director in the office of International Affairs United States Department of Criminal Justice, pursuant to an agreement arising out of the December 17, 2009 meeting, seeking her views on his suggested text for a joint press release between the US and GOJ on the December meeting. There was no response from Warlow, save for an out-of-office reply on February 9, 2010, sending a copy of the email to the chargé d'affaires.

On February 22, Warlow replied to the effect that she was out of office and on return had not seen the email as she had inadvertently missed it among the many others she had received. It was agreed that given the passage of time the press release would no longer have been meaningful. There was no mention of the other issues that were raised in the meeting held on December 17.

At the request of the US, a meeting was held on March 1, 2010 at Jamaica House.

The US was represented by the chargé d'affaires and Mr Don Baker, a representative of the Embassy. The GOJ was represented by Dr Ken Baugh, Senator Lightbourne and Deputy Solicitor General Lackston Robinson. At that meeting the progress of the extradition matter was discussed.

There was a follow-up meeting between Dr Baugh and the US State Department on April 12, 2010 in Washington DC. The meeting discussed the possibility of public unrest and dislocation of the government's economic programme, having regard to the timing of the extradition request. This was discussed in the context of Section 16 of MACMA which mandates the refusal of a request if compliance would prejudice "other essential public interests of Jamaica". The fact that over 30 people were killed by incursions into Tivoli Gardens by the security forces

in 1997 and 2001 underscored the level of concern at the timing of the request.

This meeting was followed by a letter dated April 14, 2010 in which the US reiterated its earlier position that the evidence submitted in the original request was sufficient to proceed, since prior cases of similar evidentiary strength had resulted in successful extraditions to the United States.

Following this letter on April 14, 2010, Senator Lightbourne filed proceedings in the Supreme Court requesting, inter alia, a declaration as to the matters she was entitled to take into account in exercising her discretion to issue the authority to proceed. In the suit, Christopher Coke, President of the PSOJ Joseph Mayer Matalon, and Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller were joined as parties, based on their public expressions of disagreement with the way the request was being handled: this provided them with an opportunity to present their views to the court as to how the matter could be better handled.

On April 14, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade notified the US

of the proceedings and invited its participation in the proceedings. On May 4, the US set out its position by letter on the various issues raised in the suit and asked that the letter be brought to the attention of the court by the GOJ. The letter was received on May 5, 2010, the morning of the court proceedings, and could not be presented to the court in that form.

On May 5, the matter was heard in the Supreme Court before Justice Roy Jones. He delivered judgement on May 11, 2010, removing from the suit with Lightbourne's agreement, Joseph Mayer Matalon as well as Simpson Miller on the basis of submissions that she could not, inter alia, assist the process, and that to have made her a party was a breach of her right to freedom of speech.

The suit was subsequently withdrawn.

On May 17, having gauged the growing level of public mistrust and the expressed intention of key institutions and organisations not to interact with the government if the extradition matter remained unresolved, Lightbourne decided that the looming public interest concerns compelled the exercise of her executive discretion to resolve the matter. Consequently, she told Cabinet that she would be signing the authority to proceed and did so on May 18. The Resident Magistrate for St Andrew then issued a warrant for the arrest of Coke.

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COMMENTS (14)

Better Must-Come
9/11/2010

I too did not even bother to read Ken Chaplin's drivel.

Alex Campbell
9/10/2010

Both this and the first peice by Ken Chaplin is exactly what Dorothy Lighbourne read in the Senate in answer to the no confidence motion. Did Ken write it for her? If not he is should at least declare that he is not the author of this column but fronting for Mrs Lightbourne. The rules of journalism requires that writers should give credit for other people's work. As a senior jounalist Ken has come up short.

george watson
9/9/2010

Allan Jones I agree with you totally. I don't read this man anymore. His journalism style? I think he is way over-rated anyway.

Wharf Dawg
9/8/2010

He was extradited on a plane!

Brad Kerr
9/8/2010

Nothing you say sir have any credibility. You are so blinded by your political loyalties that you are still beating the Dudus issue. Sir you, the JLP and Dudus needs to give Jamaica a break. I have said this before I think the Observer does its reader a disservice by having write a column. There is no objectivity in anything you wtite sir and as such need to go back to being political spokesperson, and ant a columnist. Legal sysytem will take it course for all involved From SG to AG and PM.

gary lee
9/7/2010

Watered down summary of the whole escapade.

Kram Blake
9/7/2010

You made reference to section 16 of the MACMA and "other essential public interests of Jamaica" In this case it appears that many persons think Bruce and others should disregard the interest of Jamaica. This was included in the MACMA for a reason. Unfortunately we will never know how things would have played out if the extradition request was just signed from day on.

Wa Tch
9/7/2010

Nine months of agony for our country!

Allan Jones
9/7/2010

I didnt even read this as I am sure its filled with political bias and has nothing of substance

Chuck Emanuel
9/7/2010

Ther is no doubt that Dudus was held Accountable by the United States Government. Is there a lesson or two that we can learn from this ?
Thank goodness for the U.S. Who is next ?.

Trevor Dawes
9/7/2010

Mr. Chaplin, what most folks are interested in is not how the process of extraditing Coke came about. We all, more or less, know how that went down. What folks are more interested in is the GOJ's actions, especially in its dealings w/MPP, leading up to Coke's extradition. As we've seen, the GOJ's actions have served to undermined confidence in the political leadership, not only of Jamaica but of both political parties, the JLP and PNP.

Joe Robinson
9/7/2010

Very good summary. Jamaicans have become so politically bias that we will never be able to see the bigger picture.I am not saying Dudus is innocent as i do not have all the facts. But we have become puppets to the Americans only because of its visa'a privilege. America is known aroud the world as a big bully, whatever they say must go. they do not care about the rights of citizens outside of the US Countries need to stand up for their people not withstanding the US treat..So much more to say.

Nicolas Henry
9/7/2010

If there was seperate election for MP and President, we would then have more checks & bal, eg PNP president and majority JLP MPs or visa versa. Politicians would be forced to work together to pass legislation. The parlimenatry system is driving politics tribalism in JA, bcause it's simply all or nothing. This means for a party to form the government they must win a majority seats in parliment. I think this facilitate corruption and keep the Don/area leader/ in business. Constitutional reform pls

Nicolas Henry
9/7/2010

Mr Chaplin, with all due respect, I think enough is said already on this issue. I'm tired of it. I do now have a better understanding of the politics that runs JA. What I've learnt from this ordeal is, almost all constituencies in JA have a area leader/don, that the voters answer to, and for a MP to run successfully, he or she must somehow rap with that person. I think this is practice flourishes because of the parlimentary system of GOV. Give the voters the choice to vote directly for a PM.

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How Christopher 'Dudus' Coke was extradited